Palestinians reject Benjamin Netanyahu speech

Benjamin Netanyahu said he would support the creation of a demilitarised PalestinianPhoto: GETTY

By Dina Kraft in Tel Aviv

11:34AM BST 15 Jun 2009

They said that Mr Netanyahu had set impossible conditions for a Palestinian state and called on the international community to confront the Israeli premier, who endorsed the conditional creation of a Palestinian state for the first time, but refused to end Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, where the Palestinians hope to build a future state.

Mr Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said: "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the speech "closed the door to permanent status negotiations".

He added: "We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it.

"He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain."

Yasser Abed Rabbo, an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, said: "The international community should confront this policy, through which Netanyahu wants to kill off any chance for peace.

"They must isolate and confront this policy which Mr Netanyahu is adopting and exert pressure on him so that he adheres to international legitimacy and the road map," he added, referring to a US and European-supported 2003 peace plan.

The Palestinians are irate over Mr Netanyahu's condition that they recognise Israel's legitimate right to exist as a Jewish state, ensuring Palestinian refugees and their descendents who have lived outside of Israel's borders since 1948 are not allowed to return.

Mr Netanyahu also said such a state must be demilitarised and promised that all of Jerusalem would remain as Israel's capital despite the Palestinian desire to make the eastern part of the city, a traditionally Arab area, their future capital one day.

The speech was intended as an answer to President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world in Cairo earlier this month in which he said he expected Israel to make significant moves towards peace with its Palestinian neighbour.

By saying "yes" to a Palestinian state, Mr Netanyahu hoped to relieve some of the unusually intense scrutiny and pressure Israel has been facing from the US administration.

But by staying firm to his commitment to what he calls "the natural growth" of existing settlements, he bucked Mr Obama's call for a blanket settlement freeze. In embracing settlers as the country's "brothers and sisters" and reiterating his support for a united Jerusalem, he hoped to hold off a potential storm of dissent from Right-wing partners that keep his government from collapsing.

However a White House spokesman said that Mr Obama "welcomed" Mr Netanyahu's speech and that his endorsement of the eventual creation of a Palestinian state was "an important step forward".

Some Israeli commentators noted that Mr Netanyahu's acceptance of a limited Palestinian state hailed by some as a major ideological concession for a long-time hardliner like the prime minister, was merely a clever ploy to accept a foregone conclusion long since adopted by his predecessors.

"Welcome, Mr Prime Minister, to the 20th century. The problem is, we're already in the 21st century," wrote Ben Caspit in his column in the Maariv newspaper.